The man with perhaps the most to gain in the Olympic yachting selection saga has pulled himself out of the running for Athens.
Nik Burfoot finished third in the national Laser trials but had a second chance at selection after the Sports Disputes Tribunal directed the top three place-getters were tosail-off for the Olympic berth at May's world championships in Turkey.
However, Burfoot has decided not to compete at the worlds or any European regatta that might fall within the selection criteria.
Burfoot says Hamish Pepper is the best representative as he won the national trials fair and square in conditions similar to Athens.
He says the whole situation is a mess, and regardless of who ends up going, their medal chances are going to be seriously diminished.
He does not believe a second chance for Olympic selection is an option as it defeats the purpose of running the trials the way they did.
Burfoot says the whole thing has become a joke and the system has let them down badly as no-one knows where they stand and their programmes have been disrupted.
The plans for Pepper and Andrew Murdoch, who finished second in the national trials and appealed against Pepper's original selection, to attend the world championships might be thrown out anyway if Yachting New Zealand goes to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport to try and overturn the Sports Disputes Tribunal's ruling.
